Blogs

Promote Your eBook with Blogs

You can promote your eBook sales or distribution with blogs.

Amazon Kindle eBook Reader
Originally uploaded by goXunuReviews

An eBook is a PDF publication available either free to demonstrate your expertise or sold as valuable information as part of an online business.

Small business owners and home business entrepreneurs can easily create eBooks using a PC and free tools like doPDF and Open Office.

Seth Godin, who has a pretty good track record with eBooks, gives a guide on how to make a blog on Squidoo with some pretty simple steps.

Blogs can be helpful in marketing your eBooks by:

• Creating a community of visitors interested in the eBooks you produce
• Improving page rank for your eBook publishing efforts so that those interested in you eBooks will know where to find them
• Marketing your eBooks making it easy for your fans and customers to share information on your product with others

For more on how blogs can help to promote your online eBook empire, contact us today.

Promote eBay Business with Blogs

Blogs can help promote an eBay business bringing more targeted visitors and hence more potential bidders for your products.

Ebay_Store
Originally uploaded by kokogiak

As of October of this year, eBay announced the closing of its own blogs in order to focus on continued development of its online auction community.

But creating your own blog or hiring a professional blogger while you focus on the core job of selling can help your eBay business by:

• Increasing traffic and organic search for your auctions making them easier to find even outside the eBay community
• Promoting your eBay store by boosting traffic and creating more targeted visits from potential customers interested in the niche products you provide
• Keeping your followers updated by giving them a place online to get the latest on new products, hot auctions and other updates

For more on promoting your eBay business with blogs contact us and for more on how to promote your eBay store see the helpful guide from the eBay main site.

Why Every Realtor Needs a Blog

Blog consultant Michael Martine believes every realtor needs a blog.

Real Estate
Originally uploaded by mrak75

Not that you need one to list properties, instead:

• Create a picture of the community where your properties are located
• Distinguish yourself as a real estate agent
• Record testimonials from clients and video or photos of property showings

You could also include helpful posts with tips on how to choose a realestate agent, how to negotiate for the best price and how to find the home you want at a price you can afford.

You could hire a consultant like Michael to help you plan a blog of your own or a professional blogging service to create a blog to suit your needs.

Read the rest of Michael's post "Real Estate Blogs: Move Beyond Listings, or You’re Dead". For more on hiring a professional blogger to suit your needs contact us today.

Blogs Grow Your Business

As many who use them for marketing, PR and brand building know, blogs can definitely help grow your business.

Blogs Grow Your Business
Originally uploaded by Business Blogger Pro

Blogs can be powerful tools for your small to medium sized business because they:

• Build community
• Create awareness
• Spread your message
• Build your brand

So what might be most amazing to those familiar with the power of blogs is that so few businesses still employ them.

Yet, among the top "practical suggestions to grow your business in 2010", according to a recent post at smallbiztechnology.com is "Create a blog."

Blogs are inexpensive to set up and maintain, and you can hire a professional blogger to do it for you if you haven't got the time.

If you want to find out more about what a professional blogger can do for you, check our PostRanger.com site or contact us for more information.

How Blogging Helps Small To Medium Sized Business

When evaluating how professional blogging can help your small to medium sized business, we may first want to look at just what a blog is and what exactly it does.

Beach Blogging, after Cassandre
Originally uploaded by Mike Licht,
NotionsCapital.com

Simply, a blog is a type of Website which can be updated regularly without much knowledge of coding or Web design.

In blogs, the latest content, organized in the form of short articles called "posts" generally appear in descending order with the most recent entries appearing first.

Because blogs incorporate feeds, lists of article posts which a visitor can subscribe to and be automatically notified each time an update occurs, blogs have a tremendous opportunity to build a following.

For more on "What a blog can do for you" read our companyblog at PostRanger.com.

Blogs: The REAL secret to targeted Web traffic

You may encounter many Websites claiming they have the secret to targeted Web traffic, but the truth is that getting targeted traffic to your Website begins with a very simple idea: blogs.

Traffic.
Originally uploaded by Jakob Montrasio

Properly done, blogs create targeted Web traffic to your online store or other site for a few very simple reasons:

• Keywords. Blogs aren't just regularly updated sites with interesting information. Done correctly, they fill a niche and use keywords (like "blogs" or "blogging" in this case) to clue search engines into the kind of information they provide.
• Content. Blogs are updated often (daily, weekly, monthly) encouraging readers and search engines to check in again regularly for the latest.
• Community. Blogs build community because they allow comments allowing a running dialog to grow between a blogger and his/her audience and because they encourage subscription so readers can receive notice when they are updated and follow regularly.

Whether you create your own blog to fit your niche or hire a professional to do it for you, clearly blogs remain the first step in any good online marketing plan.

For more, Karen Sielski, "5 Ways to Get High Quality Free Targeted Traffic in 3 Days Or Less", ezinearticles.com.

Why Your Political Campaign Needs a Blog

In this new media saturated culture, there are now many reasons why your political campaign needs a blog.

Real Clear Politics - Poll Averages
Originally uploaded by New England Secession

Back in 2006, Todd Ziegler, Senior Vice President, Client Services at The Bivings Group, uploaded a post on the Bivings Report, the organization's blog, designed to help decide whether a blog was right for your candidate or not.

Into this decision, Ziegler says he would introduce questions about:

• The candidate's personality
• The culture of the capaign
• Who's going to write the blog?

Today, in 2009, it seems there is no longer a question of whether or not a campaign needs a blog...they all do.

Using blogs allow a political campaign to add visibility with online audiences and, when necessary, get their message out regardless of the coverage of the mainstream press.

In any case, Ziegler''s questions are still worth considering.

Here is his post "When Should Political Campaigns Blog?" in its entirety from The Bivings Report.

Tips for Growing Your E-Commerce Business with Blogs

KikScore offers some tips for growing your e-commerce business with blogs.

monopoly-e-commerce
Originally uploaded by danielbroche

Obviously, blogs can help an e-commerce store in a couple of obvious ways:

• First, blogs increase traffic because they provide constantly fresh updated content attractive to both seartch engines and visitors who will return often to see what's new
• Second, blogs improve page rank for your e-commerce site if they contain content related to your e-commerce site

You can create a blog quite easily yourself, but, of course, if you find it is taking time away from running your core business, it is quite easy and cost effective to contract the service out to a professional blogging service as well.

Here are some other reasons "Why Online Stores Should Blog" from KikScore.

How to Save Your Newspaper with Blogs

It may sound funny to talk about how to save your newspaper with blogs.

Newspapers
Originally uploaded by Alex Barth

It seems these days that many in the newspaper business blame online media for the industry's percipitous decline.

In fact, blogs, with their attractiveness to search engines and easy to update format are probably the best salvation available for a business that has focused on large volumes of updated current information. Here's why:

• Simple format. Without adding much to a news organization's infrastructure, blogs make it easy to create updated stories by your news staff on a regular basis without need for a Webmaster or Web development costs
• Increased traffic. If you already have a Website for your newspaper, a blog can increase the traffic and Web ranking which can be key to building a new business model online
• Easy to monetize. Placing adds on a blog is easy and using existing platforms like AdSense or AdBright may allow some earnings as your treaffic builds without even needing to deploy additional sales personel

While you won't need a Web developer or Webmaster to run your blogs, a knowledgable consultant or blogger who understands the best use of keywords and links to optimize your site with major search engines can be a plus.

In her post "Newspaper Blogs" Sharon Hill of "Community Newspapers--Hear Them Roar" ponders why more newspapers don't avail themselves of the oportunities blogs provide.

Outsource Your Marketing Department with Blogging

In these trying economic times, here are some serious reasons you might want to outsource your marketing department with blogs to promote your corporate brand or small to medium sized business.

other nerds nerding out
Originally uploaded by thelastminute

• Less is more. A part-time outsourced blog can tell your story, reinforce your brand, raise awareness for your product or service on the World Wide Web. Can your full-time marketing staff say the same?
• Bang for the buck. Blogs are best at the single greatest aim of marketing, promoting your brand to the world. And they do it at a fraction of the cost of other media your marketing people are paid to manage.
• Product placement. The mainstream media cannot always be controlled or induced to portray your product or service in the best possible light. While outside media validation can be important to a company, wouldn't it be nice to have a platform where you could speak directly to customers and to those who influence them?
• Feel the buzz. Blogs directly generate a sense of excitement your marketing staff can only try to create and, because they are social and are commented about on the Web, they offer a great echo of customers' sentiments without the need for surveys and focus groups.

For five more tips on what a good blog should ideally do for your brand, read "5 Tips for Making a Corporate Blog Stand Out" by Michelle Bowles at the Online Marketing Blog.